Deborah Sams and Mary-Lou Ryan founded the Australian brand Bassike in 2006. They combine easy-going style with a subtle element of luxury. Bassike’s aesthetic is influenced by the contrasts of loose Australian beach style and the simplicity and minimalism of Japanese design. The designers want to create timeless wardrobe staples with sustainable fabrics.
They have now released their resort 2014 lookbook, featuring a collection of deconstructed silhouettes in neutral tones with materials such as cashmere knits, soft wool and Italian cotton. I particularly like the slouchy leather pants, the coats and jackets with the industrial looking belts and the styling with thick socks and Birkenstock sandals.

I wouldn’t call myself a Diesel fan, but I really like Nicola Formichetti’s first ad campaign as new Artistic Director of the brand. Instead of using models or famous actresses, he looked for his subjects on Tumblr. The 20 people cast feature 18 individuals of all shapes and sizes, they have colored and shaved hair and are often androgynous. Always nice to see something else than the usual white, blonde, thin 18-year old. You see, it can be done.
Formichetti said that he “wanted to find people who reflected the diversity of the creative community today and not just the typical model.” He continued: “I wanted the campaign to showcase a variety of characters, people who are beautiful in their own unique way. It was less about capturing fashion and more about getting an insight into these people’s souls. ” The campaign was shot by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin.

As it has become some kind of a tradition, I’m sending you into the weekend with a bunch of pretty pictures (and a video), this time presented by Valentino. For the fashion house’s Fall 2013 campaign, the brand’s creative directors Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli took inspiration in Dutch painters like Rembrandt and Vermeer. Chiuri said that the “women were represented like paintings, caught in the intimacy and magic of their gestures,” while Piccioli added that the campaign showed “the magnificence of Flemish lights and 10 different characters of contemporary feminine grace and regality.” The models are placed next to classic elements of still-life paintings: a vase of flowers, a bunch of asparagus, feathers and grapes. I like how they threw some pieces of the season’s accessories into the mix. Very serene and pretty images. Well done. The images were shot by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin.

Fashion brands love to put out some arty-farty, pretentious and affected ads and movies (see the current Calvin Klein underwear campaign, in which a buttered up Christy Turlington talks about how her panties make her feel; or who could possibly forget Brad Pitt meditating about journeys, plans and dreams in last year’s Chanel Nr. 5 campaign). Today’s edition comes courtesy of Kate and Laura Mulleavy, the sisters behind Rodarte. This Must Be the Only Fantasy isa film collaboration between the fashion house and director Todd Cole, produced by The Creators Project and with (great, if I might add) music by Beach House. They combine magical realism, 1980s video games, fantasy role playing games and some of Rodarte’s absolutely gorgeous pieces from their spring/summer 2013 collection to create this odd, strange short movie about “mostly teenage kids, just hanging out in the suburbs of LA, killing time, chatting inanities, looking for kicks. It just so happens that the magic from their games has spilled out into the physical world. So the film becomes a contemporary take on the fantasy genre, while also merging art, action, music, and fashion” (The Creators Project). Yeah, yeah, whatever. I have more important questions: Did the dress stay intact after the young girl’s ride on that unicorn? Why didn’t they show more pieces from the collection? Why is Frodo sitting on a throne made out of gaming joysticks and consoles? Was there melted chocolate in the boy’s cup? And what is a Sith Lord doing in the suburbs?

Part I and II of my little series of ad reviews have been easier to write than the last one, the Ugly. Why? Well, it wasn’t difficult to find the bad ads; and the good ones also stood out quite easily. The one ad (yep, just one) I thought of as the Ugly one is by Alexander McQueen.

ALEXANDER MCQUEEN
How must it be like to be an Alexander McQueen ad? You have no choice than to feel like the ugly sister besides such outlandish, beautiful and impossibly intricate, complex and elaborate gowns. I guess that whatever you do, you won’t be able to do justice to the clothes. I’m actually not sure about these ads; I don’t think that they are failing, but still, something is missing here, I can’t quite pinpoint, what. Even though I find the use of black and white quite striking, I still would have loved to see the gowns’ colors. Edie Campbell is doing a great job behind the mask; she’s really giving me the creeps with that stare. So help me out here: What do you think about the campaign? Edie Campbell shot by David Sims

So, after yesterday’s post with part I of my review of some of Fall’s 2013 campaigns, today I’m going to show you part II, aka The Bad or some really unimaginative campaigns. Coming from the biggest names out there, it’s rather depressing, really. These companies have access to the best photographers, make-up artists, hairstylists and models and still, the results are just dreary. *sad face*

CALVIN KLEINWhat the heck is that? Old-fashioned and boo-ho-ooring. In what kind of post-apocalyptic scenery are the models standing there, anyway? And who would say yes to this pitch: Oh yeah, great idea, let’s put the models in some kind of grey room with two doors in the corner that have no function whatsoever? Who would come up with such an idea? Well, I can tell you who already did come up with it: Dozens and dozens of executives who okayed this in the past – cause this is just the kind of ad we all have seen just too many times before.Madison Headrick and Shaun DeWet shot by Daniel Jackson

Louis Vuitton HandbagsYes, sure, Michelle Williams looks gorgeous; I want her hair, her brows and that lipstick, but isn’t there ANY other way to sell a handbag than to have the model contemplatively lean against it, casually throw it over her shoulder or shove it in her face?Michelle Williams shot by Peter Lindbergh

CHLOEAnd here we go again, a model just randomly waving her bag into the camera. Sorry, Chloé, I love you very much, but this ad is not worthy of your name. Boring and already been done a thousand times before (see Louis Vuitton, above, if you need any prove).Tess Hellfeuer, Marique Schimmel and Esther Heesch

PRADANow this is just lazy. What is this grey, low-budget concrete background anyway? Did they borrow it from the local mall photographer? This campaign looks like everysingle other campaign out there. I think that you really should be able to expect much more from Prada. Where was Miuccia when this happened? Even the likes of Christy Turlington and Freja Beha Erichson can’t save this mess. Just sad.Amanda Murphy, Cameron Russell, Caroline de Maigret, Catherine McNeil, Christy Turlington, Fei Fei Sun, Freja Beha Erichsen, Kristine Froseth, Malaika Firth, Rachel Williams and Sophia Ahrens shot by Steven Meisel

TOMMY HILFIGERTommy does what Tommy does best: Showing waspy, rich families come together to do waspy, rich-people things (this time, apparently, in college) and looking good while doing it.

Ok, so let’s talk some more about the Fall 2013 campaigns. I get that the businesses behind these brands are multi-billion dollar operations that have to sell their merchandise; and in order to achieve that with the greatest amount of success, they have to appeal to a very wide range (of very rich) people. No, actually, they have to appeal to everyone – since the less rich will still buy the perfumes, underwear, sunglasses etc. they can afford – which makes the task even more difficult. So yeah, I guess that they can’t really take any risks, that they can’t experiment with new, innovative marketing ideas. But some of the images presented in the campaigns are so old-fashioned, so predictable, dull and boring, I wouldn’t take a second look if it wasn’t for the famous and renowned name splashed under it. Well, and that’s probably it, in the end: Who needs to risk losing customers with some edgy, over-the-top imagery, if you can just slap your big name under some unimaginative pictures.
So, without further ado, here I present you part I of what I’d like to call the „The Good (yeah, some are still good, after all, see also here and here), The Bad and The Ugly“. Stay tuned for part II, coming tomorrow, and part III, on Thursday.

The Good:

CARVENI really love the idea behind this campaign. The images are hauntingly beautiful, irritating and disturbing. And despite the fact that the merchandise they are trying to sell here – clothes – are out of focus, you somehow still get a feeling for the texture and the (I guess) softness of the material. For my part, I just want to go and cozy up in one of the coats.Marine Deleeuw shot by Viviane Sassen

PROENZA SCHOULERI really like the mood going on in these pictures. For me, they have a Hitchcockian feeling about them. I particularly like the digital rendition of the birds in some of the pictures, they ad a somehow threatening edge to the images. The soft colors, airiness and the light are also quite eye-catching.Sasha Pivovarova shot by David Sims

STELLA McCARTNEYThen there’s Stella, who, like Kenzo, is taking a surrealistic approach to her Fall campaign. The edgy scenes were shot in London and show the models partially submerged in a swimming pool (how cool is that, to just drown a really expensive coat in chlorine?) and standing on a street, surrounded by arrows, exclamation points and some more arrows. The slight strangeness and unexpectedness of the pictures are very appealing and a breath of fresh air.Suvi Koponen and Chiharu Okunugi shot by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott